415 custom in-wall
- Thread starter phurst
- Start date
ludnix
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14933574#post14933574 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phurst
Sean came by this morning and did some repairs. Cant leak test for 24 hours. If the repairs don't work, he offered to replace it at half price. He won't honor the full waranty because there is a 1/16th of an inch height differential over the entire 8' run
That seems like a ridiculous expectation. It seems like a tank should be able withstand that much of a difference in level without busting a seam. That could have easily occurred over a long period of time, despite being level when setup.
runningstix
New member
sounds like it would be more worthwhile to pay full price for a quality tank to me. That sucks.
DamnPepShrimp
Moved On
Sorry about the tank. I agree though, I wouldn't give them any more business. That 1/16th of an inch BS is just to save their butts. I'd get a real tank this time, that is just ridiculous. I'd pay half price for another tank if he paid me for all the corals and fish lost because of his tank failing!
phurst
Richmond Reefer
After hearing from Sean, it seems that there was a gap about 20" long on one side of the tant that was just a little off, and should have been shimed. We had assumed the 1/2" foam under the tank would compensate for any small irregularities, but he says it put a lot of stress on the seam since that portion was not properly supported.
I'm not an engineer, so I can't say how true that is, but I DO know seans work is usualy very, very good, and I'm going to trust he knows what he's talking about.
We're going to test fill with FW Sunday morning. If it holds, we'll start producing RO/DI and refill the tank. If it doesn't hold, I believe we"ll take Sean up on his half-price offer.
I'm not an engineer, so I can't say how true that is, but I DO know seans work is usualy very, very good, and I'm going to trust he knows what he's talking about.
We're going to test fill with FW Sunday morning. If it holds, we'll start producing RO/DI and refill the tank. If it doesn't hold, I believe we"ll take Sean up on his half-price offer.
Pacific Reefs
New member
Oh man such a beautiful tank...sorry to hear about the tank failure. Hope to see it or a new one running soon!
He is right IMO. 1/16 of an inch is quite a bit when you have 3500+ pounds of just water + the weight of all the rock and other equipment all being focused on one point that is being subjected to a single, static load rather than a distributed load, which is what the tank is designed to do. This load would then be subjected to a moment strain between the two plates of acrylic at the seam, and you have a recipe for disaster. The bigger the tank, the more important in ensuring the load and weight of the aquarium is properly distributed, which means having a surface that is exactly level.
Sorry about the tank, it is a beautiful piece of work and the plumbing on that thing is insane!!
Sorry about the tank, it is a beautiful piece of work and the plumbing on that thing is insane!!
Hello,
This is Vince the owner of this tank. Ten years ago I had a 650 gallon acrylic tank built by another manufacturer. Within a month the tank also burst a seam. I called the manufacturer and he shipped me a new tank within a week with no questions asked about how level the stand was. This is what I expected from Sean.Obviously things have changed in the last few years. Following is Sean's explanation of what caused the failure.
The reason the tank broke was because there was an 1/8" gap under neath the bottom panel on the rear of the tank that was over 20" long. At a 96" long tank, having over 20 inches with absolutely NO support under it puts a much higher load on the seam that broke than a properly supported aquarium. Whether it was 1/8" or 18", it doesnt matter as not touching, is not touching.
Think of it this way, lets say for every square inch on the bottom of the aquarium, there is 10 lbs of weight. With a supported aquarium bottom, all of this weight is evenly distributed. Now lets say an area 20" x by maybe 4" is unsupported, now on either side of this gap there is 100lbs instead of 10. These numbers are simply to show how the weight can increase, and are not actual numbers.
I spoke with the gentleman that built the stand for several hours today about this. The stand was a very solid stand, however with this length of a gap, it was simply a matter of time for that stress to break it, and having a 1/2" piece of foam underneath is not an end all solution, it simply "helps" distribute weight out. It needed to be shimmed up in any places where the tank and foam did not meet.
SP Aquatics warranty, as with all acrylic aquarium warranties, covers the aquarium when it is properly installed. We did not do the install, we only built the tank. So because of that gap, we were not able to warranty this tank. We were however, happy to try and help vince out by trying to fix this seam with re gluing and acrylic shims placed in to help seal it back. Vince wasnt happy that I wasnt able to say this patch is going to work 100%, i was simply not comfortable making this claim.
On top of this, we were even generous enough to offer to split the costs of a new tank. I mean really what else can i do, not only did i drive 5 hours round trip today, and fixed the tank, all at no charge.
Im sorry vince had to go through all this, and hope he decides to get a new tank as we can take further steps this time to remedy the gaps.
Hobby Experience: Coraline growing on my cleaner shrimp tentacles
Current Tanks: 336gal SP Aquatics Acrylic tank, 125gal SP Aquatics Sump
Interests: Photography, Acrylic fabrication, Hybrid cats
The reason the tank broke was because there was an 1/8" gap under neath the bottom panel on the rear of the tank that was over 20" long. At a 96" long tank, having over 20 inches with absolutely NO support under it puts a much higher load on the seam that broke than a properly supported aquarium. Whether it was 1/8" or 18", it doesnt matter as not touching, is not touching.
Think of it this way, lets say for every square inch on the bottom of the aquarium, there is 10 lbs of weight. With a supported aquarium bottom, all of this weight is evenly distributed. Now lets say an area 20" x by maybe 4" is unsupported, now on either side of this gap there is 100lbs instead of 10. These numbers are simply to show how the weight can increase, and are not actual numbers.
I spoke with the gentleman that built the stand for several hours today about this. The stand was a very solid stand, however with this length of a gap, it was simply a matter of time for that stress to break it, and having a 1/2" piece of foam underneath is not an end all solution, it simply "helps" distribute weight out. It needed to be shimmed up in any places where the tank and foam did not meet.
SP Aquatics warranty, as with all acrylic aquarium warranties, covers the aquarium when it is properly installed. We did not do the install, we only built the tank. So because of that gap, we were not able to warranty this tank. We were however, happy to try and help vince out by trying to fix this seam with re gluing and acrylic shims placed in to help seal it back. Vince wasnt happy that I wasnt able to say this patch is going to work 100%, i was simply not comfortable making this claim.
On top of this, we were even generous enough to offer to split the costs of a new tank. I mean really what else can i do, not only did i drive 5 hours round trip today, and fixed the tank, all at no charge.
Im sorry vince had to go through all this, and hope he decides to get a new tank as we can take further steps this time to remedy the gaps.
Hobby Experience: Coraline growing on my cleaner shrimp tentacles
Current Tanks: 336gal SP Aquatics Acrylic tank, 125gal SP Aquatics Sump
Interests: Photography, Acrylic fabrication, Hybrid cats
You all be the judge. If I was not home when it happened I would have lost thousands of dollars in livestock. Thanks to all my friends who responed faster than paramedics most of the livestock was saved.I want to settle this as amicably as possible. Your feedback will help influence my decision.
Vince
This is Vince the owner of this tank. Ten years ago I had a 650 gallon acrylic tank built by another manufacturer. Within a month the tank also burst a seam. I called the manufacturer and he shipped me a new tank within a week with no questions asked about how level the stand was. This is what I expected from Sean.Obviously things have changed in the last few years. Following is Sean's explanation of what caused the failure.
The reason the tank broke was because there was an 1/8" gap under neath the bottom panel on the rear of the tank that was over 20" long. At a 96" long tank, having over 20 inches with absolutely NO support under it puts a much higher load on the seam that broke than a properly supported aquarium. Whether it was 1/8" or 18", it doesnt matter as not touching, is not touching.
Think of it this way, lets say for every square inch on the bottom of the aquarium, there is 10 lbs of weight. With a supported aquarium bottom, all of this weight is evenly distributed. Now lets say an area 20" x by maybe 4" is unsupported, now on either side of this gap there is 100lbs instead of 10. These numbers are simply to show how the weight can increase, and are not actual numbers.
I spoke with the gentleman that built the stand for several hours today about this. The stand was a very solid stand, however with this length of a gap, it was simply a matter of time for that stress to break it, and having a 1/2" piece of foam underneath is not an end all solution, it simply "helps" distribute weight out. It needed to be shimmed up in any places where the tank and foam did not meet.
SP Aquatics warranty, as with all acrylic aquarium warranties, covers the aquarium when it is properly installed. We did not do the install, we only built the tank. So because of that gap, we were not able to warranty this tank. We were however, happy to try and help vince out by trying to fix this seam with re gluing and acrylic shims placed in to help seal it back. Vince wasnt happy that I wasnt able to say this patch is going to work 100%, i was simply not comfortable making this claim.
On top of this, we were even generous enough to offer to split the costs of a new tank. I mean really what else can i do, not only did i drive 5 hours round trip today, and fixed the tank, all at no charge.
Im sorry vince had to go through all this, and hope he decides to get a new tank as we can take further steps this time to remedy the gaps.
Hobby Experience: Coraline growing on my cleaner shrimp tentacles
Current Tanks: 336gal SP Aquatics Acrylic tank, 125gal SP Aquatics Sump
Interests: Photography, Acrylic fabrication, Hybrid cats
The reason the tank broke was because there was an 1/8" gap under neath the bottom panel on the rear of the tank that was over 20" long. At a 96" long tank, having over 20 inches with absolutely NO support under it puts a much higher load on the seam that broke than a properly supported aquarium. Whether it was 1/8" or 18", it doesnt matter as not touching, is not touching.
Think of it this way, lets say for every square inch on the bottom of the aquarium, there is 10 lbs of weight. With a supported aquarium bottom, all of this weight is evenly distributed. Now lets say an area 20" x by maybe 4" is unsupported, now on either side of this gap there is 100lbs instead of 10. These numbers are simply to show how the weight can increase, and are not actual numbers.
I spoke with the gentleman that built the stand for several hours today about this. The stand was a very solid stand, however with this length of a gap, it was simply a matter of time for that stress to break it, and having a 1/2" piece of foam underneath is not an end all solution, it simply "helps" distribute weight out. It needed to be shimmed up in any places where the tank and foam did not meet.
SP Aquatics warranty, as with all acrylic aquarium warranties, covers the aquarium when it is properly installed. We did not do the install, we only built the tank. So because of that gap, we were not able to warranty this tank. We were however, happy to try and help vince out by trying to fix this seam with re gluing and acrylic shims placed in to help seal it back. Vince wasnt happy that I wasnt able to say this patch is going to work 100%, i was simply not comfortable making this claim.
On top of this, we were even generous enough to offer to split the costs of a new tank. I mean really what else can i do, not only did i drive 5 hours round trip today, and fixed the tank, all at no charge.
Im sorry vince had to go through all this, and hope he decides to get a new tank as we can take further steps this time to remedy the gaps.
Hobby Experience: Coraline growing on my cleaner shrimp tentacles
Current Tanks: 336gal SP Aquatics Acrylic tank, 125gal SP Aquatics Sump
Interests: Photography, Acrylic fabrication, Hybrid cats
You all be the judge. If I was not home when it happened I would have lost thousands of dollars in livestock. Thanks to all my friends who responed faster than paramedics most of the livestock was saved.I want to settle this as amicably as possible. Your feedback will help influence my decision.
Vince
Plankt0s
Premium Member
Did he use Elmers school glue?
I was just reading on your other thread about this http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1629386&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
and found it a little more interesting then this one... thought i would share it with everyone else.
I was just reading on your other thread about this http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1629386&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
and found it a little more interesting then this one... thought i would share it with everyone else.
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